India Is Central Asia’s Ideal Development Partner – Analysis

One year ago, U.S. president Joe Biden announced U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan so, as far as Washington is concerned, it’s now someone else’s problem. Among the “someone’s” are Central Asia, Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, and Iran.

Russia’s increasing isolation due to the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine will limit economic opportunities for the region. One example of an endangered project is the Russian-Uzbek effort to build a nuclear reactor to address Uzbekistan’s energy shortages and allow the country to use natural gas for value-added projects instead of heating and cooling

And, despite potential political complications, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have provided aid to Ukraine and reaffirmed their support for Kyiv’s territorial integrity

Because Russia’s economy will be sidelined by the war and Western sanctions, Central Asia (the former Soviet republics and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) may fall under the sway of China, though Beijing helpfully cautioned the region to be alert for foreign interference as it increased military cooperation with Kazakhstan.

Who else is a potential partner for the region?

Turkey sees itself as the big brother of all Turkic peoples and Central Asia is no exception. Ankara would prefer to exercise influence commercially and via the Organization of Turkic States, but its economy is weak and President Erdoğan recently capitulated and visited archnemesis Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman seeking economic support, shelving his campaign against the prince for the killing of activist Jamal Khashoggi.